Tacitus: The Histories, Volumes I and II eBook

However, the period was not so utterly barren as to
yield no 3 examples of heroism. There
were mothers who followed their sons, and wives their
husbands into exile: one saw here a kinsman’s
courage and there a son-in-law’s devotion:
slaves obstinately faithful even on the rack:
distinguished men bravely facing the utmost straits
and matching in their end the famous deaths of older
times. Besides these manifold disasters to mankind
there were portents in the sky and on the earth, thunderbolts
and other premonitions of good and of evil, some doubtful,
some obvious. Indeed never has it been proved
by such terrible disasters to Rome or by such clear
evidence that Providence is concerned not with our
peace of mind but rather with vengeance for our sin.

FOOTNOTES:

[5] To Vespasian Tacitus probably
owed his quaestorship and a
seat in the senate; to Titus his tribunate
of the people; to
Domitian the praetorship and a ‘fellowship’
of one of the
great priestly colleges, whose special function
was the
supervision of foreign cults. This last
accounts for Tacitus’
interest in strange religions.

[6] This project, also foreshadowed
in Agricola iii, was
never completed.

[7] Referring in particular to
the scandals among the Vestal
Virgins and to Domitian’s relations
with his niece Julia.

[8] i.e. the Aegean islands,
such as Seriphus, Gyarus,
Amorgus, where those in disfavour were banished
and often
murdered.

THE STATE OF THE EMPIRE

Before I commence my task, it seems best to go back
and consider 4 the state of affairs in the
city, the temper of the armies, the condition of the
provinces, and to determine the elements of strength
and weakness in the different quarters of the Roman
world. By this means we may see not only the
actual course of events, which is largely governed
by chance, but also why and how they occurred.

The death of Nero, after the first outburst of joy
with which it was greeted, soon aroused conflicting
feelings not only among the senators, the people,
and the soldiers in the city, but also among the generals
and their troops abroad. It had divulged a secret
of state: an emperor could be made elsewhere
than at Rome. Still the senate was satisfied.
They had immediately taken advantage of their liberty
and were naturally emboldened against a prince who
was new to the throne and, moreover, absent.
The highest class of the knights[9] seconded the senate’s
satisfaction. Respectable citizens, who were attached
as clients or freedmen to the great families, and
had seen their patrons condemned or exiled, now revived
their hopes. The lowest classes, who had grown
familiar with the pleasures of the theatre and the
circus, the most degraded of the slaves, and Nero’s
favourites who had squandered their property and lived
on his discreditable bounty, all showed signs of depression
and an eager greed for news.